Table 2.
Characteristics of hospitalised and non-hospitalised patients according to use of ts/bDMARDs and/or csDMARDs
| Variable | ts/bDMARDs | csDMARDs | ||||
| Hospitalised | Non-hospitalised | P value | Hospitalised | Non-hospitalised | P value | |
| (n=71) | (n=234) | (n=35) | (n=86) | |||
| Age (years), median (IQR) | 61.4 (50.6–70.8) | 52.8 (42.9–61.0) | <0.001 | 68.3 (57.1–76.0) | 50.4 (42.6–61.3) | <0.001 |
| Sex (male), n (%) | 23 (32) | 77 (33) | 0.936 | 14 (40) | 19 (22) | 0.070 |
| Ethnicity, n (%) | 0.422 | 0.385 | ||||
| Caucasian | 61 (86) | 213 (91) | 33 (94) | 75 (87) | ||
| Latin American | 7 (10) | 16 (7) | 1 (3) | 9 (11) | ||
| Others | 3 (4) | 5 (2) | 1 (3) | 2 (2) | ||
| Tobacco | 0.056 | 0.025 | ||||
| Current smoker | 7 (10) | 29 (12) | – | 15 (17) | ||
| Former smoker | 21 (29) | 39 (17) | 13 (37) | 31 (36) | ||
| Non-smoker | 43 (61) | 166 (71) | 22 (63) | 40 (47) | ||
| BMI, mean±SD | 28.9±5.2 | 27.0±5.1 | 0.023 | 30.3±7.9 | 26.6±5.0 | 0.014 |
| ≥30 obesity, n (%) | 19 (38) | 47 (28) | 0.221 | 10 (50) | 12 (19) | 0.018 |
| Overweight/obesity, n (%) | 49 (82) | 121 (65) | 0.023 | 19 (76) | 41 (62) | 0.322 |
| COVID-19 diagnosis, n (%) | 0.018 | 0.019 | ||||
| Confirmed cases | 58 (82) | 156 (67) | 29 (83) | 51 (59) | ||
| Suspected cases | 13 (18) | 78 (33) | 6 (17) | 35 (41) | ||
| Symptomatic COVID-19, n (%) | 71 (100) | 200 (85) | <0.001 | 35 (100) | 76 (88) | 0.061 |
| COVID-19 symptoms, n (%) | ||||||
| Fever | 63 (89) | 105 (45) | <0.001 | 29 (83) | 50 (58) | 0.011 |
| Cough | 54 (76) | 118 (50) | <0.001 | 28 (80) | 46 (54) | 0.008 |
| Headache | 16 (22) | 64 (27) | 0.446 | 7 (20) | 21 (24) | 0.812 |
| Sore throat | 8 (11) | 50 (21) | 0.059 | 1 (3) | 23 (27) | 0.002 |
| Dyspnoea | 47 (66) | 41 (17) | <0.001 | 23 (66) | 10 (12) | <0.001 |
| Arthralgia | 12 (17) | 40 (17) | 0.970 | 4 (11) | 20 (23) | 0.208 |
| Myalgia | 16 (22) | 51 (22) | 0.895 | 6 (17) | 23 (27) | 0.349 |
| Chest pain | 19 (27) | 21 (9) | <0.001 | 7 (20) | 6 (7) | 0.051 |
| Abdominal pain | 9 (13) | 12 (5) | 0.056 | 3 (9) | 3 (4) | 0.354 |
| Diarrhoea | 17 (24) | 50 (21) | 0.627 | 9 (26) | 12 (14) | 0.184 |
| Nausea/vomiting | 17 (24) | 16 (7) | <0.001 | 3 (9) | 8 (9) | 0.899 |
| Anosmia | 10 (14) | 50 (21) | 0.232 | 3 (9) | 19 (22) | 0.080 |
| Ageusia | 9 (13) | 45 (19) | 0.286 | 2 (6) | 13 (15) | 0.226 |
| Rhinorrhoea | 5 (7) | 22 (9) | 0.640 | 1 (3) | 13 (15) | 0.065 |
| Asthaenia | 35 (49) | 66 (28) | 0.001 | 13 (37) | 25 (29) | 0.396 |
| COVID-19 outcomes, n (%) | <0.001 | <0.001 | ||||
| Recovered without sequelae | 55 (77) | 228 (97) | 20 (57) | 83 (97) | ||
| Recovered with sequelae | 6 (9) | 6 (3) | 7 (20) | 2 (2) | ||
| Death | 10 (14) | – | 8 (23) | 1 (1) | ||
| ICU admission, n (%) | 14 (20) | – | 7 (20) | – | ||
| Rheumatic disease | 0.002 | 0.319 | ||||
| RA | 44 (62) | 86 (37) | 10 (29) | 14 (16) | ||
| Spondyloarthropathies | 20 (28) | 113 (48) | 10 (29) | 22 (26) | ||
| Systemic lupus erythematosus | 3 (4) | 10 (4) | 10 (29) | 38 (44) | ||
| Other rheumatic diseases | 4 (6) | 25 (11) | 5 (13) | 12 (14) | ||
| Disease duration (years), median (IQR) | 12.2 (6.0–18.3) | 10.1 (5.4–15.2) | 0.165 | 14.6 (10.6–22.5) | 10.8 (5.0–18.5) | 0.053 |
| Age (years) at the initiation of biologicals, median (IQR) | 53.5 (43.3–60.1) | 47.3 (37.8–53.9) | <0.001 | – | – | |
| Time (years) from diagnosis to the first biological median (IQR) | 3.9 (1.1–10.0) | 3.2 (1.0–7.3) | 0.399 | – | – | |
| Last available DAS-28 in patients with RA, mean±SD | 3.4±1.6 | 3.1±1.7 | 0.224 | 4.6±1.4 | 2.8±1.4 | 0.002 |
| Treatments | ||||||
| Glucocorticoids, n (%) | 39 (55) | 65 (28) | <0.001 | 19 (54) | 28 (33) | 0.039 |
| Dose of glucocorticoids (prior to COVID-19), mean±SD | 6.0±3.7 | 6.2±4.7 | 0.851 | 5.9±1.9 | 8.0±7.1 | 0.429 |
| Dose of glucocorticoids ≥10 mg, n (%) | 6 (15) | 9 (14) | 0.829 | 3 (16) | 5 (18) | 0.853 |
| NSAIDs, n (%) | 19 (27) | 58 (25) | 0.756 | 7 (20) | 18 (21) | 0.909 |
| ACEI, n (%) | 12 (17) | 19 (8) | 0.043 | 3 (9) | 11 (13) | 0.755 |
| Comorbidity, n (%) | 43 (61) | 77 (33) | <0.001 | 27 (77) | 28 (33) | <0.001 |
| COPD | 5 (7) | 2 (1) | 0.009 | 6 (17) | 1 (1) | 0.002 |
| Diabetes | 16 (22) | 21 (9) | 0.006 | 7 (20) | 8 (9) | 0.130 |
| Hypertension | 32 (45) | 62 (26) | 0.005 | 20 (57) | 22 (26) | 0.001 |
| Neoplasm | 5 (7) | 6 (3) | 0.136 | 4 (11) | 3 (4) | 0.106 |
| Chronic liver disease | 6 (9) | 8 (3) | 0.101 | 3 (9) | 2 (2) | 0.145 |
| Renal failure | 3 (4) | 3 (1) | 0.141 | 4 (11) | 1 (1) | 0.024 |
ACEI, ACE inhibitor; bDMARD, biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; BMI, body mass index; COPD, chronic pulmonary obstructive disease; csDMARD, conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs; ICU, intensive care unit; NSAIDs, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; tsDMARD, targeted synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs.